Brief communication "The aerophotogrammetric map of Greenland ice masses"

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: M. Citterio, A. P. Ahlstrøm
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2013
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; Greenland; Ice Sheet; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-445-2013; https://doaj.org/article/f0335a5552f640f5ad71eb8d07f0b4fe

The PROMICE (Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet) aerophotogrammetric map of Greenland ice masses is the first high resolution dataset documenting the mid-1980s areal extent of the Greenland Ice Sheet and all the local glaciers and ice caps. The total glacierized area excluding nunataks was 1 804 638 km 2 ± 2178 km 2 , of which 88 083 ± 1240 km 2 belonged to local glaciers and ice caps (GIC) substantially independent from the Greenland Ice Sheet. This new result of GIC glacierized area is higher than most previous estimates, 81% greater than Weng's (1995) measurements, but is in line with contemporary findings based on independent data sources. A comparison between our map and the recently released Rastner et al. (2012) inventory and GIMP (Greenland Ice Mapping Project) Ice-Cover Mask (Howat and Negrete, 2013) shows potential for change-assessment studies.